UK's major investment in life sciences | WPN World People News

Since UK Prime Minister launched the industrial strategy in life sciences 3 years ago the industry has agreed over £3.5 billion of investment in the UK which is expected to create over 11,000 new jobs.

Minister for Life Sciences, George Freeman said:

“NHS leadership in health research is attracting new investment into our life sciences research sector, generating the health and wealth we need to be a modern economy. I want to ensure that patients up and down the country can get access to important innovations as soon as possible. By revolutionising the way in which we look at getting medicines and devices into the NHS we will make sure that this country is the best place in the world for 21st Century medical innovation.”

Innovative Medicines and MedTech Review

The ‘Innovative Medicines Review’ will be launched to consider how to speed up patient access to cost-effective and innovative medicines, devices and diagnostics.

It currently takes on average over a decade and £1billion to develop a new drug. A fresh approach, made possible by ground-breaking developments in genomics and digital technology, could significantly reduce the time it takes to develop new medicines, devices and diagnostics.

The ‘Innovative Medicines and MedTech Review’ will examine:

•how new approaches to the development of medicines, diagnostic and devices, based on precision medicine and emerging technologies, could speed up access to innovative products for NHS patients

•how more collaborative work between companies and regulatory and evaluation bodies could ensure that innovative products can be assessed more quickly, using better data

•how charities and patient groups can play a greater role so that NHS patients can get access to cutting-edge treatments

•what more can be done to promote the rapid adoption of important medical innovations into clinical practice

Source: UK Department of Health